RENEGADE
by Jelly Babies
Summary: Fedarations ultimate fear and only hope.
1. Renegade

RENEGADE

__

Captains log supplemental. The enterprise has been travelling at high warp for the past two days and yet we seem to be going nowhere. Mr. Data assures me otherwise however. I don't know why but I always imagined tramluar 111 to be a little closer than this. Odd. Starfleet puts a lot of importance on this Mission, yet I can't seem to shake this gut feeling that… "Computer pause log." Picard rubbed his eyes wearily and looked at the screen. It looked back at him with a methodic flash of its coloured lights. He got up and with his trade mark pull of his jacket, walked over to the window. The stars streaked past and as he observed this, a thought occurred to him. At first nothing much, but it grew exponentially until he focused his eyes. "Computer." he waited for the response that was usual to him. It came and went. " Save log and flag it for later." The computer replied with its little tune of acceptance, and the room became quiet once more. 

"Bridge to Captain Picard." The perked up tone of Lieutenant Commander Worf awoke Picard from his daydream. He slapped the badge with a reflex that he had had years to perfect. "Picard here, go ahead Mr. Worf." Sounding slightly dazed, he walked back to his desk and sat down, facing the screen. "Sir. We are detecting a distress call on a Starfleet frequency." Picard looked up, eyes widening ever so slightly "I'm on my way."

Captain Jean-Luc Picard strode onto the bridge and scanned the area for Worf. He walked briskly over to him and stopped inches from the console. "Report."

"We are detecting a distress call emanating from the Poseidon System. It's a standard priority 1 signal. Sir." The 'Sir' was put in as an after thought, but Picard took little notice. Instead he turned in the general direction of the helm.

"Ensign, plot a course for the Poseidon System, Maximum Warp."

"Aye Sir." The Ensigns' hands flew over the console as he slowed the ship to impulse and typed in the new co-ordinates. "Course plotted Sir."

"Engage" Picard didn't bother with his custom hand wave, instead he looked unblinkingly at the shock waved bleep on Worfs' screen. 

Riker was standing behind the Captain during the fast paced conversation, and not once had the Captain looked in his direction. "What do y' think Captain?" Picard flinched ever so slightly and looked up into Rikers eyes. 

"I don't know number 1." Picard glanced back down at the screen before looking once again at Riker. "The Poseidon System isn't a place where ships have trouble, and even more, what could attack a federation ship within our borders with enough force to send out a Priority 1?" Picard looked a little worried as he pressed the intercom button. " All Senior Officers to the Briefing room." He took his finger off it and walked straight-backed into the Briefing room, followed by Riker, Worf and Data.

3 Minutes later and the senior staff had assembled around the curved oak table. Beverly was first on the mark "Can you tell us who's sending the distress call?" 

They turned and looked at Worf, who, noticing the spotlight was on him, got up and headed to the main screen. He tapped a few buttons gently, and, after a few seconds, a ship schematic blinked into view and started rotating. "The USS Tauron. NCC 786 892. Akira Class. She was on her way to Starbase 12 when the station lost contact with her. The station sensors did not pick up any other vessel in the area." Worf looked at the members of staff with a querying eyebrow, waiting for someone to ask the next reasonable question. Geordi picked up on this.

"Who's her commander?" 

Worf turned once again to the screen and called up a Starfleet personnel file. It flashed to life and useful information scrolled down the page, followed by a Profile picture "Captain Alex Murray, Commander of the Tauron for just over two years. Before that she was the Captain of the USS Asus, which was de-commissioned 3 years ago. Her psychological profile states that she is an able commander who is levelheaded and open minded. Zero tolerance for laziness though." Worf put the last part of the sentence in with just a bit too much zest, and the senior staff looked at him quizzically. 

"Bridge to Captain Picard." The young Ensigns voice was shaky over the intercom, but he made himself calm down just enough to answer Picard.

"Picard here."

"Sir we have just entered the Poseidon system."

"Slow to impulse power, I'm on my way." The Captain gazed at each individual for a second before getting up. "Let's get to it. Beverly prepare the sick bay for casualties." 

I hope you liked reading this, as I loved writing it. Please submit a review because I would really like feedback. Thanks. Sorry to anyone if I have taken their title, just e-mail me and I'll change it, as I haven't read all of your fics.

Erm I was told to write a disclaimer so ………All characters and names are trademarks of the respective owners. Ta da. 


	2. Flash of light

**Flash of light.**

"Damage Report!" Her voice carried across the bridge in an instant, refocusing her crew. Yellow sparks burst from the tactical console, and the lieutenant manning it flew back in his seat. 

"Warp core is offline! We've lost impulse power!" Ensign Clyde was running to the tactical console as she replied to the stern voice of her captain. The ship rocked again as another volley of torpedoes flew from the attacking vessel.

"Shields are at 13% and falling!"

"Re-route emergency power! Take it from life support if you have to!" Bare-knuckled hands gripped the captains' chair, as the ship lurched once more. "Helm evasive maneuvers, alpha 1!"

"Yes ma'am!" 

The silver ship streaked burning plasma as it struggled to turn over on its port side, and shield itself from the barrage of weapons fire. Orange bolts of light shot from the Tauron as it fled from its attacker. Its protective skin blazed blue as it shook off another phaser hit. 

"Hail them!" Desperateness had crept into the women's voice as she watched her ship fall apart beneath her. 

"All communications are off-line!" 

"Launch the distress buoy!" she screamed at no one in particular, but her command got through.

"Buoy launched!"   
"Come about to bearing 376 point 352! Hard axis rotation to starboard!"

"Aye sir!" 

The Tauron spiraled away from the other ship, in a frenzied attempt to cover her vulnerable side. 

"Fire quantum torpedoes now!" her voice bellowed in the dimming bridge

"Firing! …Direct hit to their shield emitters! We got 'em captain!" 

"Come about for another pass! We need to get them!" The captain's anxious voice cut through the klaxons, which in turn screamed more loudly as if they needed more attention. 

"Phasers are off line! We're down to our last 6 torpedoes!" Lieutenant Mitchell struggled with his failing console in desperation, as he punched in the command to load the bays. "Torpedoes loaded captain!"

"Target their warp core!" she stared at the flickering screen for barely an instant. "Fire!"

The Tauron limped weakly to the port side and fired her remaining chance of survival at the attacker, in a desperate attempt at existence. Blue flashes of light flew from the torpedo tubes and swam their way to their target. 

The lieutenant's voice jeered enthusiastically as the ship on screen suffered direct hits.

"Jesus! Captain! Brace for impact!"

The Disclaimer…All characters and names are trademarks of the respective owners!


	3. Savior

**Savior **

"Sir, the distress call is coming from the second moon at Poseidon V." The ensign looked up at the captain with a concerned look on his face, which was all too familiar to Picard.

"Lay in a course, ensign." Picard looked at his console and hoped to god he wasn't too late.

"Yes captain." Ensign cooper typed in the new co ordinates with near super human speed "Course plotted and laid in captain."

"Engage!"

"Captain!" The voice of Ensign Clyde was drowned out by the numerous whaling alarms, each one trying to get attention. "Captain! Oh god! Captain! Are you all right? Where does it hurt? What can I do?" The hysterical voice of Clyde woke the captain from her warm slumber.

"Cl…" Murray coughed grudgingly, blood dripping from her open mouth "…Clyde…?"

"Captain I'm here, you'll be okay." The young ensign's hands clasped the frail women's head; her hair sticking to Clydes open palms.

"…what happened…?" another splutter of blood weeped from the captains mouth. "Never mind about that, we're okay." Captain Murray struggled to hear the naïve voice of her helmsman as another cradle of sparks flew from the ceiling and landed on the smoldering carpet. "We've lost contact with all decks, including engineering." Clyde looked into her captain's eyes, they watered coldly, and the reflection was the only warning Clyde had of the terrible fate that awaited her. The bridge gave one last shuddering creak, before caving in completely.

The Enterprise sparkled out of warp and silently slowed its pace to a stop, right beside the dying Tauron. Its silver sleekness over powered the deathly scene. There was a harsh contrast between the Enterprise and the wounded vessel floating silently, mimicking the lifelessness of the dark blanket that consumed her. The Tauron's starboard hull was breached and scorched crackling with energy as burst conduits wavered about, unleashing their fury. The wounded and dyeing vessel was a stark contrast from the once gleaming new ship it had been, with the vast responsibilities of keeping the peace, protecting the citizens of the Federation and gracing the magnificent Federation fleet with it's presence.

"Sir, The Tauron's hull is heavily breached, I don't think she can stay intact for much" the ensigns voice was cut off by the persistent priority bleep of the console "Captain! The Tauron's hull is collapsing!"

"Get them out of there!" Picard's Adrenaline crazed mind screamed the command, yet his voice never carried it, instead, he fought his deep-seated emotions and his level persona took over, acting as it had for countless years.

Level eyes glanced at Worf as the Lieutenant Commander Glided his hands over the smooth glass surface of the console.

"Transporting…got them Captain! All crew from the Tauron have been successfully transported to the emergency triage units in shuttle bays 2 and 3."

"Excellent Worf. Captain Picard to Dr Crusher" Picard angled his head to the ceiling to activate the COM, and grimaced at the flustered voice of his Chief Doctor.

"Yes captain, I'm afraid we're a bit short handed at the moment. There are a lot of casualties but I think we'll be ok. I'd recommend getting to the nearest starbase immediately though, overcrowding will become a problem."

"Agreed. I'll let you get on with it Doctor, I'll be down in 10 minutes." Picard moved towards the Conn. and leaned close to the Ensign. "What's the nearest starbase from this position Ensign?"

"One moment sir…" Ensign Jack Cooper activated his database and input the necessary details, they blinked back at him with a degree of nonchalant, which almost annoyed the Ensign "Starbase twelve is the nearest sir, would you like me to set a course sir?"

"Yes Ensign, Set a course and proceed at maximum warp." Picard moved back to the center stage of the bridge and nodded his head "Course set Ensign?"

"Yes sir, Course plotted and laid."

"Then engage" Picard did his customary point of the finger, and stood staring at the view screen, it's display flickered slightly as it compensated for the effects of warp speed. Stars flickered past, leaving a shining white trail, before themselves disappearing into the lifeless dark void which had consumed too many. _Why does something beautiful always end up feared and hated? _Picard flinched slightly at his own chain of thought, _we are not going to go here today Jean-Luc. _He moved slightly, before awaking from his reverie altogether, and stepped closer to Riker. "I want to get down to the sickbay ASAP and start assessing the situation, we _must _find out what is going on here."

"Agreed" Riker's voice was deep with intense thought, as he tried to sort out the non-existent clues they had been given so far. "After you sir" Riker pointed at the turbo lift door, and watched as his Captain eyed it with a little more scrutiny than was necessary or justifiable. Picard nodded and walked briskly to the door, accompanied by Riker.

Disclaimer: All characters and names are trademarks of the owners...so dont sue me!


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